New Year's Resolution # 1 - Make Sausage. Need help.

[ArnieM]

I know nothing other than what I've read and that typically leaves a few loose ends.


Here's where I am. 

I have the KA stand mixer with grinder and stuffer.  I've used the grinder but never the stuffer.  I have the book Home Sausage Making.  My daughter got me this kit:  http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_211&products_id=346

I've read through this post from OS and found it helpful.  http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=12333.0  I'm in pretty much the same situation.

I'm looking for comments here.

The KA stuffer has 3/8 and 5/8 inch feed tubes.  The collagen casing is something like 30mm.  I'd assume I'd use the 5/8 inch stuffer.  The 'instructions' such as they are, are for grinding 5 pounds of pork, mix in the seasoning, stuff and cook.  I like simple but I'm wondering if there's a bit more to it. 

Keep the casing dry?  Add some oil or grease to the feed tube?  Mix in some beef?  The kit is for "Fresh Sausage" but it includes a Kielbasa mix.  I never thought of Kielbasa as 'fresh'.  Am I missing something?

Any help and explanations for this endeavor would be appreciated. 

[KevinG]

The casings - if they are natural, usually need to be soaked in water for about 1/2 hour, then rinsed off (inside and out). It's a good idea to keep a small 1" bubble of water on the inside of the casing while trying to get it on the horn, it makes it slip on much easier.

You don't need to use meat other than pork, but depending on the recipe you may want to.

Fresh sausage just means you need to cook it again. I have unsmoked fresh sausage (Italian & Polish), smoked fresh (Italian & Polish). Then there are the dry sausages like salami, summer, and pepperoni, these are the ones not considered fresh.

I'm sure NePaS will get you squared away - he's the sausage guru!

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Sounds like the kit you have Arnie is for fresh sausages. If so, it really is grind, mix, stuff and cook.

The collagen casing are used dry. I have not used them, but use the largest tube for stuffing that they fit on easily. It will make stuffing easier with a larger tube.

Try a small batch with your Kitchen Aid to see how well it works stuffing for you. I used a grinder one time and it was slow.

And yes, kielbasa can be a fresh sausage. Made some many years ago and it was pretty good. Does seem like smoked is more common though.

[Habanero Smoker]

Fresh sausage generally means uncured sausage. I use the KitchenAid grinder and it does a good job; but I never had a grinder to compare it with. With the KithenAid it is best to cut the meat in strips that are no wider then 1 inch, and set the speed to 6 or 7. This make the grinding go faster then trying feeding small cubes of meat through it. If you have the 5 quart or larger, you can use the KitchenAid to mix your sausage start with speed number 1, then increase it to #2 until the meat is well mixed and sticky.

[NePaSmoKer]

Fresh sausage is non cured and usally non smoked. Grind, mix ingredients, stuff in casing or make patties, double wrap and freeze or cook and eat within 3 days of stuffing.

If the smoke is what you desire add some good liquid smoke to the mix.

In a sausage like your making i would use natural casings, Hog casings if your using pork.

Rinse well inside and out, soak in warm water 1/2 hour in a bowl and add 2 Tbs clear vinegar to the water (soak while getting things together) This will make the veins clear and give a better appearance in the finished sausage.

Good advice here with some great forum sausage makers.


nepas

[ArnieM]

Thanks for the advice guys.  It does sound pretty simple.  Any suggestions on the best cut of pork to use?  I figured loin might be too lean.  Maybe a butt or shoulder?

[FLBentRider]

I have made sausage out of both butt and loin.

The butt is probably a better cut to use, but the loin is easier.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

I've only used pork butt for sausages. I would think loin would need some extra fat added to it.

[KevinG]

Ditto on the butt.

[drano]

Yep, butt is best for sausage.  Gives a good fat content.  Or, if the price is right, buy pork blade steak (butt cut into steaks).  Use a boning knife to remove the bone, cut into strips--I find the steaks quicker to cut up than a butt because its already sliced. 
Beef Chuck roast is the pork butt equivalent. 
Cutting into long strips is a great idea.  It helps most grinders feed better. 
I used the KA grinder attachment for several years, and it will grind about 1 lb a minute.  Last year I upgraded to a Cabelas 1/2 hp Commercial.  Wow.  25 lb in about 7 minutes. 
KA grinder as a stuffer--I did that once, then got a Cabelas 11 lb stuffer.  Grinders make really poor stuffers. 
Yes, sausage is easy.  Just remember, fresh means it doesn't go in the smoker.  If you want to smoke sausage, you need to add a cure, such as Insta Cure #1 (the pink stuff) to keep bad things from growing as it slowly heats up to 152 deg.
One thing I do to simplify sausage making is I mix the spices into the meat before grinding.  I add enough water to make it slimy, put it in the freezer for at least an hour, then grind.  The grinder mixes the spice in real well.  I've done this on every batch since '03, and it works great for me.   The 3/4" by 3/4" by ~5" strips are small enough to let the spice mix in as the grinder plate does its thing.  This may not work on bigger grinders w/ bigger meat chunks. 
get smokin
drano

[Tenpoint5]

The main thing is to keep th emeat as cold as possible. The freeze partially then grind will make your grinding experience a whole lot easier. IMHO

[ArnieM]

Thanks again for the interest and advice. 

It looks like this is the week.  Fresh Boneless Pork Butt, $1.49.  I may have to get a few of those puppies  ;D ;D

[wyogoob]

Yep, very, very important.

[OU812]

Sounds like you got all the info and fixens to make your maiden voyage into sausage land. I will be waiting to see and here how things go for you my friend.

[ArnieM]

Follow up.  I finally got around to the sausage.  Thanks again everyone for your advice.

The 'kit' my daughter got me contained a number of seasoning packets good for 5 pounds of pork along with matching collagen casings.

I had hoped to get a couple of butts around 5 pounds each.  No dice.  So I got this monster (just shy of 10 pounds, boneless), thinking I'd make 2 batches.


Cutting up about 5 pounds worth turned into 'work'.  Eventually hand-mixed in the seasoning packet (sweet Italian) and it went into the fridge overnight.


Got going today.  I put the pork in the freezer for about 45 minutes while I got the KA grinder set up.  The pork was partially frozen and the grinder worked well (coarse grind).


I made a patty for taste-testing and put the ground pork back in the fridge.  My wife and I thought the patty was great.

Then, disaster struck.  The KA stuffer has two size tubes - too big and too small.  The big tube wouldn't fit in the collagen casing.  The small tube is more like for breakfast sausage.  I had to use the small tube.  My wife and I working together managed to turn out the equivalent of 2 links in about 15 minutes.  We gave up.

So, the balance will turn into sausage patties and bulk sausage meat.  Oh well.